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on his collar in frustration. “I was thinking we are well matched. I have no desire to parade my title, my Amusementist lineage, and money around the Society while hungry mothers shove their witless daughters under my nose. I’d rather avoid the entire ordeal. Your name within theOrder is as powerful as mine. If the rumors about the hidden Whitlock fortune are true, your wealth is as great.” He lowered his head a fraction, one of the few times I’d ever seen him do so. “You are the only woman I have ever met who could almost best my intelligence.”
    I closed my eyes for the briefest moment, gathering my patience. “That was hardly intelligent, what you did in there. Did you think you could force my hand by making a spectacle? Or do you intend to force my hand in some other way?” A cold gust of wind cut through my cape and dress. People certainly married for all those reasons, but that didn’t give David cause to assume that the answer he wanted was the only one I could give.
    David looked incredulous as he motioned back toward the open door. “I only thought that I would make you a good husband. Think of it. As a countess you would be able to do whatever you pleased. I could give you all of this and more.” He motioned toward the grand house. His voice softened. “Don’t act as if there is nothing between us. We shared a kiss.”
    “You stole that kiss moments before we were flung into an icy lake. I chose to ignore your indiscretion, considering we nearly died.” I took a step away from him, fearing he might take liberties again.
    As soon as I retreated, he pulled me into his body and whispered against my ear, “And what of the dance?”
    For a moment I remembered what it had felt like to be in his arms. I could feel the rush and tingle of excitement and the confident strength of his arms holding mine.
    No. It wasn’t right. I pushed him hard and nearly toppled myself over with the force of it. “You’re an earl. You are the product of more than seventeen generations of fine breeding, wealth, and refinement. You were born to be attractive. If I feel it, it means nothing more than that I am English and a woman. That is not love. At one time I may have mistaken such yearnings for love, but not anymore.”
    David paced a tight, frustrated circle. “I know you fancy yourself in love with that Foundry worker, but truly, Meg—where is the future in it? Marriage is best served with practicality. Love can grow with time.”
    “Will has nothing to do with this.” Will had been a loyal friend and ally to me in the darkest of times. My feelings for him ran deep. But even without Will, I couldn’t have accepted David’s proposal. There were things David said, and small actions that I couldn’t ignore.
    “Do you think I’m a fool?” David asked.
    “No, I have never thought that, never for a moment,” Ireplied. “But you are misguided. I was born above a shop, and I keep one now. These hands have bled while I’ve spent hours on my knees blackening grates day after day as a housemaid. You imagine some fortune that should be mine, but I still must work to earn my bread. I am not whatever it is you have constructed me to be in your mind. You treat me like some fantastical beast at a circus, one you can keep in a cage to show to your many admirers.” I held out my arm with bravado. “Look here! It’s the amazing woman inventor. The rarest of breeds, she can perform sums as well as a man.”
    David took me by the arms and held me out, forcing me to be still. “You have a gift, Meg. You are rare. Think of the minds our sons could be gifted with. Think of all that we could give them.” He lifted his proud chin, and I saw in him a brief flash of the raw ambition that had ruined his father.
    I hadn’t even thought of children. Certainly he hadn’t thought of how bearing those children before I became a full member of the Order would ruin any future I had as an Amusementist. It wasn’t as if I could